Apothecary
by That One Artsy Kid
Summary: Dragons, Magical Hair, and Necromancy. Not usually ingredients that lead up to a road trip. Modern with Magic AU.


Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or stories inside any of these franchises.

Right, first thing's first, call me Art. Secondly, this story is something that I like to do in my pass time between classes, so updates tend to be a sporadic, but I'm gonna try and have a chapter or two finished finished ahead of time before I post them, so it won't be too hectic for me. Now, without further ado, the fic.

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><p>The first time that Henry Haddock saw a dragon he was just old enough to write his own name. A little boy, brown haired and batty, had dragged him out back of Henry's kindergarten. It was his second day of school, and he'd been anxious and lonely. The other boy, Jackson Overland, had seen him doodling trolls in his notebook, and promised to find him something even cooler. At first, Henry'd thought he was a wizard.<p>

Outside, the world had just woke up. The ground dampened with dew, the air heavy with mist, and most everything sounded like someone had thrown a blanket over it. Henry wondered if Mother Nature had her morning coffee yet. The nervous boy walked closely to his new friend, unsure of the growing brush the two had wandered into. Jack who didn't seem to mind, grabbed his new friend's hand and pushed through the trees as if they were his home.

There were no sounds of animals, not like one expected in a forest. The thin line of trees outside of the kindergarten barely qualified as a forest, but to a two and a half foot tall toddler the thin pines looked like a redwood forest. The birds weren't even awake yet, and there were hardly any bugs buzzing in the trees.

It had been asleep in the brambles, thick hide unaffected by the thorny nest. Henry drew in a soft breath, freezing at the sight of the camouflaged creature. It curled around itself, its tail twitching in sleep. The young boys leaned in close, watching the quiet dragon's chest rise up and down. It was a Changewing, and it wasn't full grown, just barely preadolescent.

Jack turned to smile at Henry, then picked up a fallen twig, clambered over the brambles, and poked the beast awake. That was the first time Henry Haddock saved his first best friend from incineration. Later, they would return back to that same spot, to scratch their names into one of the trees where the now abandoned nest lay.

The first time Henry fed a dragon, he was at Gobber's shop. Henry was old enough to screw a nut in place, but not enough to do anything under the hood of a car just yet. He'd been searching for a misplaced screwdriver head, and he'd just been able to see it roll under the back door. Henry tumbled rather than chased after it and would have stepped on the beast if he hadn't slipped on the screwdriver first.

He landed with a yelp, and was assaulted with something small gnawing at his boots. It growled and tugged at the rubber of the shoes and was only about as big as his forearm and twice as thick. The animal was even less intimidating than Henry, not exactly an easy feat. Henry watched the animal struggle for a little while longer, before he shifted to stand. The green lizard squeaked, dropping his hold on Henry's boot and scrambled away.

A Terrible Terror, that's what all the kids at his school called these guys. Apparently they liked to swarm outdoor picnics or ambush smaller children or frail elders out of blue. It didn't seem so terrible at the moment to Henry. He watched the dragon flick its tongue, catching its eyelid and tilting its head. The two stared at each other for some time, the dragon licking its gummy mouth.

Henry blinked, slowly reaching into his pocket to pull out a bag of animal crackers he hadn't yet finished off, and bit into half of one. The Terror perked at the motion, nostrils flaring in interest. It's not like Henry's a dragon expert, but… it did look hungry. After Henry tossed the first cracker, he spent about fifteen minutes slowly feeding the green dragon, only tossing a single cracker at a time. When he was called back inside, Henry had to turn back to grab the screwdriver head. The Terror squawked at his supposed return, and spent the rest of its day hovering at the back door's window.

The first time Henry saw a clutch of dragon eggs, it was after his father had dragged him back from a sixth failed tee-ball game. Living in the city, there weren't a whole lot of chances to see large wildlife. The largest animals were usually the Snaptrappers, and they migrated to the countryside before they got any bigger than a mastiff. Nothing wild in Geffenburg grew to be any bigger than three, maybe five feet.

At least, not usually.

Henry stormed out the back of his house, a three story building surrounded by thirty acres of forest. It was dark and raining, but Henry's flashlight poked through the night. It wasn't his fault he was too scrawny, and preferred science to sports. Whenever Steward 'Stoick' Haddock had a 'great idea' to 'put some meat' on his son's bones, Henry simply nodded along, dragged his feet, and nodded silently as his father grumbled about the unregistered witches and wizards on tv.

The rain slicked his jacket, seeped between his side and his backpack, and cooled his burning cheeks and red eyes. Henry trucked further into the forest, seeking cover in the thicker brush. Five or so minutes later, Henry didn't need to blink away rain from his eyes, and he tugged off his bag, peeled off his jacket, and slid down the base of a tree. His nose dribbled and he had to take shuddery breaths with his mouth to breathe. Henry curled his arms around himself, burying his head in his knees. Really, he tried to be good at baseball and tee-ball and basketball and football and whatever kind of ball his Dad thrust at him, but at the end of the day he'd still rather be playing with his potato battery.

The hissing tipped Henry off first. Slowly, he craned his head, glancing at what he had thought was the tree he'd rested against. It had red scales, glistening teeth, and the most important part? It was staring at him. Henry jumped to his feet, and still didn't manage to backpedal as quickly as he would've liked.

A Monstrous Nightmare was staring down at him. It hadn't taken the incentive to light itself just yet. Actually, it hadn't even sneered at him. All the stories he'd heard about Monstrous Nightmares had lived up to their names, but this one only stared at him. Henry blinked, apple bobbing as he took in the creature. He gonna get eaten with his nose filled with snot and quivering in his soaked jersey and sweatpant. Maybe the drakke would have the decency to roast him instead of eating him alive.

In retrospect, Henry would realize they only stared at each other for probably a minute or so, but at the time, it had felt like years. Then, the Nightmare opened its jaws and Henry knew for sure he was gonna get swallowed whole, but then... it just yawned. Henry peeked out from behind his fingers to watch the Nightmare lazily drop its head down on the ground, eyes still trained on Henry. Right then that Henry saw his first clutch of dragon eggs.

Following the dragon's head revealed a mismatched gaggle of eggs. The were easily larger than Henry's head, and were finer than any polished floor Henry'd ever laid eyes on. Each egg had three different color gradients and were swept smooth, not like a clean floor, but more like those Japanese sand gardens that Henry'd seen his art teacher put on her desk. The shells gleamed in the dark, nothing like Hiccup'd imagined dragon eggs to be like, and their mother had curled around them, eyes drooped but still trained on Henry. Or, Hiccup assumed it was the mother. He didn't know anything about dragons' habits.

Any step closer produced a low growl from the Nightmare, and Henry began to wish he'd grabbed his notebook on the way out of the house. But now matter how curious, Hiccup wasn't about to stick around to become a Nightmare's lunch, not if he didn't have anything to scribble down his last moments on. The boy cautiously slinked away, eyes keeping contact with the dragon at all times. The last thing Hiccup saw of the Nightmare was it's throat rumbling and glowing soft by it's nest.

The first time Henry nursed a dragon back to health, he'd just fell off the bicycle he'd received for his ninth birthday. It was a little past four, but his father had already left to go and settle something at city hall and Gobber'd fallen asleep on the couch again. Henry didn't mind. He liked it when he was by himself at the house, he didn't get into trouble, well, uh, at least he didn't get caught. The boy'd been bicycling on the driveway because if Dad didn't have time to teach him to get rid of his training wheels, well, Henry'd do it on his own.

The boy fell not too soon after mounting the two-wheeler. The steep decline of the driveway provided more then enough of a fall to scrape a fourth grader's knee. Henry screamed and shrieked, cradling the red joint. Tears blurred his vision, and perhaps that was the reason he didn't hear the other pained squeaks till their owners were sniffing at his scrape.

Something nudged his thigh. Henry started, in a fruitless attempt to distance himself from the offender. It was a Snaptrapper- a hatchling. The dragon- er, uh, dragons? Henry wasn't sure. But if the two curious, one cautious, and one sheepish looking heads were anything to go by, he should go with dragons. The day was tinted green through the tree leaves, adding an extra shine to the Trapper's scales. Carefully, his pain almost forgotten, Henry reached out his hand.

No bigger than a small dog, the boy couldn't seem to keep himself away from the dragons. The heads exchanged glances, and what appeared to the leader, snorted, swinging his head to dispel the crowding of the other three. The head closest to Henry, ignored the squabbling of the three and sniffed Henry's hand, touching Henry's fingertips for just a moment, then flinched back as if burned. Henry twitched, whining when he tried to stretch out a bit, biting back a hiss when his injured knee scrapped the ground. The dragon sniffed Henry's hand again, before resting it's head on the back of his palm, relaxing just long enough to let out a soft trill.

Something in Henry's chest caved, and when the other three heads took notice of their fourth and they started squabbling again, Henry took the time to cast a glance at the rest of the creature. There'd been something strange about the look of it, and when Henry leaned close to see, all four squawked in unison. Henry's attention snapped back towards the dragons, surprised to find all four of them competing for a spot on Henry's hand. It was as if the animal had turned into a lapdog. Big yellow eyes stared up at him, and its wings were held limp at it's sides, but Henry couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. After adjusting his hand to rub his thumb alongside the dragon's backside, Henry slowly moved to look under the Snaptrapper's wings. There was the problem. Three of the legs were planted firmly on the ground, and were what Hiccup assumed to be a healthy looking shape. The hind left leg however, swoll and turned purplish around the ankle.

Henry looked back at the four heads, and they were following his gaze, chirping sadly and nosing at his arm. The dragons straightened, hobbled over towards Henry's knee, and sniffed at the angry, bleeding mark there. One of the heads, the first one to rest itself on Henry's hand, turned back towards the boy, chirping in what Henry could only assume was worry. The ten year old shushed the dragons and pulled his leg away, offering his hand again. This time, they crowded around his hand, not protesting when Henry introduced another.

With all the wiggling that the dragons were doing, Henry had a hard time trying not to disturb the dragons' sprain. He certainly hoped it was only a sprain. It took some time, but eventually the Snaptrapper wasn't wiggling out of his grasp every few seconds. With his precarious hold on the dragon, Henry stood, hissing at the pain in his knee. The Snaptrapper tensed, eyes narrowing and tongues flickering out of their mouths, wings flapping against the boy's arms. A few calming rubs to the back and cooing shushed the dragon, and Henry managed to hobble up to his house, his bike forgotten on the asphalt.

Finding a roll of bandages and a splint (just in case) for the dragon proved to be easier than trying to keep it quiet. Abandoning it in the shed produced loud whining and roaring that Henry was surprised hadn't roused Gobber. Without much else of an alternative for the time being, Henry returned back towards the house to bandage his own injury.

The weeks it'd stayed at the his house had almost been a disaster, with the loud hissing and grumbling the dragon did, but it'd been worth it. Henry even found out that apparently, when Snaptrappers were hungry, they lured their prey closer with the tantalizing scent of chocolate. All the mice in the shed couldn't keep away.

The Snaptrapper only stayed until it was able to walk relatively straight without the splint, then Henry nudged it back out into the forest. All four heads purred and wrapped their necks about his leg before they departed. When it left, Henry'd wandered around the house, sadly poking the extra tuna cans he'd used to feed the dragon.

But then, a few days after, it returned, spoiled and hungry. Henry was absolutely ecstatic. It came and went every few weeks, begging for food at the doggie door on the back porch. Once, Henry'd woken up at midnight, bleary-eyes to Hershey the Snaptrapper nudging the side of a Terror with a cut wing.

That was how Henry Haddock began to secretly run a dragon nursery.

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><p>His best friend dubbed him 'Hiccup the Dragon Master' when he just a few months shy of turning twelve. Henry never told Jack that he actually preferred the nickname, he'd never gotten any nickname aside from Four-Eyes or something equally as uncreative. So Hiccup 'the Useless' it was. Dragon Master, was kinda awesome though. After Hershey started bringing home other drakkes and dragons, the twelve year old scoured the local library for any scrap of information on the beasties. The fire breathers consumed his life, and Hiccup absolutely loved them. His father didn't approve, but he didn't exactly know about the nursery, so it really wasn't too bad. But Hiccup didn't miss the frown on his father's face whenever he checked out another book on Gronckles, or when he got caught doodling Skrills on his schoolwork.<p>

But Jack was always there to talk at. Jack didn't exactly get along with the dragons, but he tried to help out. Jack was the one who had the idea to ask his father to the build the tree house that'd eventually turn into their nursery's headquarters. It was a quaint little thing, a little house no bigger than his father's bedroom including the patio surrounding the treehouse, but it had a little bit of electricity and the doors were too small for Mr. Haddock to crouch through. Many years later, Hiccup would decide install an escape rope in case Jack decided it'd be a good idea to 'wrestle' with the dragons again. An aggravated Nightmare turned out to be a flaming Nightmare.

Tonight was something new for the two of them. Jack's first hunt was also the first of the season, and they were going to snoop around a new part of the forest that Hiccup'd never been to at night. Around clutch laying season a year ago, Hiccup'd stumbled across what looked like a fist sized stone, lodged between two trees' gnarled roots. After returning to the spot a week later, the egg had been split open and birds were pecking at the now dead hatchling inside.

Ever since, Hiccup'd gone out during laying season in search of abandoned eggs. It turned out, if the mother dragon found any impurities with the egg, she'd roll it out of her nest and leave it to scavengers. In total, Hiccup'd hatched a total of ten eggs successfully. Most of them were Terrors, they required less upkeep than Hershey (who'd migrated south a few months ago), and once he'd even been able to hatch a Gronkle. Most all of the one's he'd kept had undeveloped wings or legs, overbites, underbites, missing limbs, sported other complications, or were just runts but Hiccup wouldn't ever be able leave them be.

Hiccup climbed up the ladder to scramble up onto the patio, and almost tripped on his untied shoes. His father always told him to tie them, but Hiccup just hadn't mastered knots.

Jack was already sitting on the patio, eyes bright. The face splitting smile made Hiccup uncomfortable already, but he'd made a promise.

"Do I get a little purse too?"

"It's not a purse!" Hiccup squeaked, crossing his arms and securing the satchel hanging from his shoulders. "It's an important piece of equipment!" Jack laughed. The boy stood, and Hiccup wasn't sure why he agreed to let Jack come along with him this time. Entering the actual treehouse and padding towards one of the tubs that he'd scribbled on for just this case, Hiccup greeted the dragons inside their little safe house.

Cradles, playpens, laundry baskets, tupperware, fishtanks, baby gates, even a broken mini fridge were all stolen from Hiccup and Jack's attics or dragged out of a dumpster somewhere, and housed all of the dragons. They chirped excitedly upon seeing Hiccup, and the boy opened his bag to fill empty bowls with canned fish. A particular Terror flapped up to greet him, sniffing his pockets greedily.

"Hey, Sharpshot. Give me a second boy." Hiccup shuffled around in his bag and tossed the rest of the canned food at Jack to continue feeding the dragons. From his satchel he pulled a bag of frosted animal crackers, split it open, and took a bite of a zebra, before he offered it to Sharpshot. The Terror trilled, greedily snapping it from the human's hands, and then snatched the bag from Hiccup's fingers, and carried it back to his pen, mindful of his healing wings.

"So we're camping out tonight, right? And then we go easter egg hunting?" Jack asked, preoccupied with wrestling a whole tuna from the baby Gronckle.

"Yeah, once Dad's light goes out we'll head on over to Black Heart first, then end at Raven Point. Lots of eggs tend to get lost in the thick trees over in Heart, and we haven't been to Ra-"

"Hey! Stop nipping me! Hiccup, Drax is trying to eat my fingers again!

"You still haven't apologized to him for dousing him with cold water."

"That was like two weeks ago."

"'One of the most curious things about dragons,'"

"Oh no, don't quote that book."

Hiccup continued. "'Dragons are proud animals, capable of a wide variety of emotions.'"

"Why did I get you that dragon book for your birthday?"

"'Capable of joy, frustration, imagination, and even holding grudges,'" Hiccup pulled Drax the Gronckle from Jack's fingers. The hatchling grumbled, but quickly became appeased when Hiccup offered an extra helping of sardines Hiccup'd managed to nick from his cupboard. "'Dragons are one of the most widely emotive animals on the face of the planet.'"

Jack groaned, moving on to one of the incubators next to him. The incubators were Jack's pride and joy in the little haven. Not for the dragon eggs that were housed inside, (despite the excited bubbling feeling he got when a new egg hatched, not that Hiccup will ever know about that) but because of the machines itself. He'd managed to wheedle one of the middle schoolers into giving it to him. Aster and Jack weren't exactly on great terms, but after some sweet talking and promising not to terrorize him at his family's farm for a month, Aster handed over a couple. It was a hard month, but Hiccup's face when he'd presented him with the incubators was worth it.

They were only a couple of styrofoam boxes and fishtanks with some battery operated light bulbs and thermometers. Together, all four of them were able to hold about six dragon eggs. The incubators were designed to hold ten, maybe a dozen chicken eggs each, but dragon eggs turned out to be much bigger. Jack adjusted some of the eggs in the soft sawdust. He wasn't the dragon expert here, but if he remembered right, these were supposed to hatch in a few weeks.

Jack didn't understand how Hiccup spent so much of his time and allowance on these guys. None of the dragons seemed to bond with him the way they did Hiccup. Of course, that probably had to do with the way he liked to poke and tease them. Still. The amount of time that he saw his friend put into these guys was scary. But Jack stuck around; Hiccup was one of the few friends he actually had, after all.

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><p>They waited for sundown before they started to crank up their electric lanterns. Well, Jack did. Hiccup tired himself out after a few minutes. The soft electric glow of Stoick's windows faded out when the night sky turned a deep blue, and the two boys clattered down the treehouse. Armed with two flashlights, an electric lantern, individual shoulder bags, a few cans of fish, and some cat food, they ambled out of their little sanctum and into the dark forest.<p>

Black Heart yielded two Terror and one Changewing egg. The Changewing egg had Hiccup dancing on his toes for a little while. He'd never hatched a Changewing before. A few times, he'd patched some hatchlings up in his nursery, but they never stayed for long. There weren't a whole lot of stuff about dragon hatchlings in the books he's read, most people didn't care to study dragon eggs, just liked to pawn off the empty shells. Maybe the hatchlings were able to change colors from birth! The two boys moved from Black Heart to Raven Point, passing into the unknown territory without a second thought.

It was about an hour later, when Hiccup's excitement started to sink into nervousness. The loudest noise in the forest was the crunching of leaves under their feet. Even the cicadas were getting quieter, the deeper they got into the forest. Hiccup clicked on his flashlight when the light of Jack's lantern started proving too thin to light his way as well. It felt like something was tickling the back of his neck, no matter how often he scratched it. Leaves crunched under their feet, but Hiccup would strain his ears to make sure he hadn't imagined the snapping of twigs in the dark.

Both the boys were shivering in their jackets, and so far, neither had spotted any abandoned eggs. Hiccup supposed he was worried about that, but it did mean that fewer and fewer eggs were being abandoned. Or maybe they'd come too late, and most of them had been carted off by some other animals. Perhaps that was making his stomach sink deep into his gut. He'd never been to Raven Point at night, and now he couldn't shake off the feeling something was watching him. Jack, however, was getting bored. The Overland picked at his bag, constantly running ahead and checking around trees, or kicking rocks.

"Can we go back now?" Jack whined.

"One more hour." Hiccup promised, eyes fixated on the ground. It was his part of the job. Jack scouted the treetops for any abandoned Terror eggs, and Hiccup'd watch the ground for anything else. Jack looked ready to walk back to the treehouse, but he just crossed his arms and continued kicking rocks.

Almost an hour later, the stars were twinkling brightly between the thick tree branches, and Hiccup started to lose faith of saving any eggs. Jack had taken to zooming ahead and lagging behind to manage his boredom, and Hiccup was just able to see his friend's brown head a few yards ahead. Owls hooted above Hiccup, and the night started to creep into the earliest hours of the morning. Walking without Jack by his side didn't bother him, Hiccup'd ventured out in the dark on his own a few times now. It was just that... something didn't seem right.

They should've found some eggs by now. Dragon eggs weren't exactly easy to find, but he was certain they'd have seen a Terror egg or two by now. The tingling feeling along the hairs on the back of his neck hadn't disappeared. The boy scowled down at his untied shoes, flicking a foot to rid a string of dead leaves as he tried to catch up with Jack. His friend's blue jacket was getting larger and larger and-

Something rustled in the trees to his left.

"J-Jack?" His friend did not hear him. Jack hadn't strayed this far ahead before, and this part of the forest was new to Hiccup. Hiccup glanced nervously at the glints hiding in the brush and the loud creaking of bugs in the grasses. Surely those lights were the reflection of the moon? On the leaves, on the bugs… Hiccup sped up his pace. The rustling came again. His eyes were still glued to the ground, hoping that maybe if he didn't look the creature in the eye, he'd get out with his limbs intact.

The rustling grew into a growl. Whipping his head around, Hiccup's feet stumbled, shoe laces catching on a surface root. The boy collapsed into a pile, a small squeak escaping his lips. Something rammed into his gut, pushing the air out of his lungs. Hiccup groaned, hands instinctively grasping for his belly. But his fingers didn't touch the sheen of his jacket. Smooth plated surfaces curved under his fingertips.

The growl sounded again. Hiccup threw himself off his front, chest heaving hard as the brush rustled. Something rooted him in his spot, as if an evil witch had casted a spell on him, and all he could do was watch.

A black shape unfurled from behind the bush, thick hide unhindered by the gnarled thorny branches. The eyes were tightened into slits, staring at the 'Dragon Master' with what looked like contempt. Hiccup watched the beast rise to its full height. Its wings stretched higher than the ceiling of his bedroom, and its head rose higher than his father's. The dragon's wings beat furiously in the air, and its mouth gaped open, showing off it's short and sharp teeth that Hiccup knew were designed for grinding and crushing bone.

Hiccup'd never seen anything so terrifying. His limbs trembled, and it was all he could do not to scream, chest heaving with panic. Green eyes bored down at him, and its front legs slammed down with such force that Hiccup would never tremble at the idea of an earthquake again. Whatever curse had been laid upon his limbs lifted, and Hiccup started to backpedal, kicking up leaves as he fumbled on his hands and feet to try and get away from the black dragon. His hands were getting scratched and cut on the forest ground, but Hiccup didn't take the time to look behind him.

There it was again. Scaled and curved edges pressed against his wet palm. The unfamiliar dragon shrieked and it rung in his ears like a shrill fire alarm, forcing him to clamp his hands on his ears to stifle the sound. Hiccup flattened out, shrieking and breathing hard. The dragon was practically on top of him right now, two of its front legs on either side of his head. Gas pooled in the back of the dragon's throat, green and ominous and smelt of gasoline. Hiccup's breaths were thin and fast, and his heart was beating furiously trying to catch up.

"Hiccup!"

The boy snapped his attention in the direction of the shout, finding his best friend sprinting towards him, his jacket forgotten but his lantern bobbing in front of him. Jack was running as fast as he could, but Hiccup wasn't so sure he'd make it in time. Hiccup moved to turn back to the dragon, but something caught his eye as he moved.

An egg, black, smooth, and scaled, pressed against his palm. Hiccup looked back to the dragon, obsidian wings stretched wide, scales matching the ones on the egg. Hiccup pushed himself away from it and the gas disappeared from the dragon's maw.

"Hiccup!" Jack skidded to a stop besides his friend, grabbed Hiccup's hand and dragged him up and away from the dragon. Hiccup stared wide eyed at the black beast. It had scuffled closer to its egg, eyes narrow and hissing possessively.

"It- it- sh- she- she has a- an egg."

"Hiccup, Hiccup, Henry, look at me. We gotta get out of here. We gotta- we gotta-" Jack tugged at his friend's sleeve, glancing nervously at the dragon, then down at his friends hands. Thin cuts ribboned the 'dragon master's' palm, dampening his hands with blood. Hiccup seemed to be stuck in place, eyes locked onto the slitted green eyes of the mother dragon. Her own eyes weren't still, instead they flickered between Hiccup and Jack.

The mother's wings were still stretched wide and her teeth bared, but she made no move towards either of the boys. Around the egg behind her was a heap of leaves; Hiccup supposed he must've not seen it when he was trying to catch up with Jack. Despite his scuffle in the nest, Hiccup could just make out a few other empty spots where some other eggs must've been.

"Sh- she thought I was go- gonna try and take her e- egg." Hiccup whispered.

"What? Hiccup, come on!"

The mother dragon hissed again at the two juvenile intruders, stamping the ground beneath her feet. Hiccup watched with wide eyes and balked at the strength. He'd never actually seen a full grown dragon this active before. She seemed to be doing the same, pacing the ground in front of her single egg. Her green eyes were narrowed at Hiccup, and twitched to his side constantly.

His legs were shaking beneath him and Hiccup suddenly realized he was having trouble breathing. The dragon wasn't hissing any longer but her wings were still open and flapping wildly, and her teeth bared. Her eyes were fixed on the sacks at their sides, nostrils flaring and puffing smoke.

Jack tugged on Hiccup's hand and ran. Hiccup was dragged after him, dazed at first, but soon was running right behind him. Running in the dark night, joined hand in hand, both of their ragged breath was only just visible by the light of Jack and Hiccup's light. The beams only touched the ground a step in front of them and with no beaten path of egg hunts past to guide them, Hiccup and Jack spent well over an hour finding their way back.

When the tip of their treehouse peeked out of the thick brush of the forest, Jack heaved a loud whoop, hands shaking and face clammy.

"We're back! We're back! We're safe." Jack sighed, jogging to a halt and collapsing to his knees. Hiccup followed a few minutes after, keening and whining. They both took a moment to catch their breath in the backyard, one on his knees, one of his back. Hiccup sorta wondered if it was possible to die from running too much, but mostly, he wondered why the dragon didn't kill them.

It's not like he thought that dragons were 'mindless instinct driven beasts' like The Dragon Manual liked to say. (Despite the title, it didn't look like the author liked dragons much. It was pretty informative though.) But they're generally 'fiercely and violently protective' (A Dummy's Guide to Dragonology).

"Jack?"

"We are never doing that-"

"I think it was the egg." Hiccup pushed himself up onto his elbows to stare at the back of his friend's head. "It was last egg. She must've been off hunting and heard us moving and came to check on her baby. She doesn't leave her egg to hatch on her own and she's too big to keep her eggs in the trees, so she's gotta stay with them all the time! Just like the Dragon Manual says!"

"Are you kidding me Hiccup?" Jack didn't turn to look at his friend just yet. He palmed his eyes and sighed. Hiccup frowned, pushing himself onto his knees and clicked off his flashlight.

"What?"

"Hiccup," Jack turned around, and Hiccup blinked back surprise at the sight of Jacks' red eyes. "She tried to burn you." He stood up, fists clenched to his sides.

"Only 'cause we had the eggs. Look!" Hiccup ruffled around in his bag, gingerly pulling out the Changewing egg. It shimmered in the moonlight, reflecting a rainbow of colors on both their faces. On one side of the egg, there was a crack, disrupting the crystalline surface so deeply, Hiccup wondered if this little guy would even hatch. "Dragons are protective. She must've smelt the other eggs and thought we were stealing!"

"Yeah, but she was still trying to burn you, Hiccup."

"I…" Hiccup paused for a second, staring at the single egg. It rolled and glistened in his palm. Jack wasn't wrong; if he hadn't have moved, that dragon definitely would have incinerated him. But it didn't. What was he supposed to do? She had the chance to kill him, but she didn't. Wasn't that the point?

Hiccup opened his mouth to say so, but the light of the patio turned on.

Stoick was storming off the back porch, and gods, Hiccup hoped that his dad didn't just see him stuff a dragon egg in his bag.


End file.
